When the New York Yankees acquired Aroldis Chapman in December it was clear they’d built something extraordinary in the back end of their bullpen.
The trio of Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances is downright bogus. It’s the bullpen equivalent of having Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup, with all their at-bats coming in high-leverage situations while somehow playing 162 games at Coors Field. The whole thing defies logic.
On Tuesday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post brought up the interesting idea that the trio could do something historic and strike out nine consecutive batters to end a game. Even though they combined to strikeout 40.5% of batters they faced last season, we know that’s still very unlikely to happen. There’s a reason why three relievers have never done it, at least as far back as we have reliable data.
This concept made me think of something more attainable. While acknowledging nine consecutive strikeouts might be too much to ask, it’s easy to imagine at some point this three-headed monster will get the Yankees’ last nine outs via the strikeout. If you allow a hit, or a couple of walks in between all the K’s the feat is slightly less impressive, but more realistic.
The question then becomes, how often do these guys pitch one-inning, three-strikeout outings? Last year it looked like this:
| Player | One-Inning Three-Strikeout games | Percentage of total games |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Miller | 6 | 10.0% |
| Dellin Betances | 7 | 9.5% |
| Aroldis Chapman | 11 | 16.9% |
| Total | 24 | 12.1% |
Usage is a bit of a confounding factor here because Chapman and Miller, as a traditional closers, got more one-inning outings than Betances last season. Even so, this gives you an idea of how frequently these top-notch relievers strike out the side. It’s infrequent, and a nine-K end to a Yankees game this season is far from a forgone conclusion.
Interestingly, there’s a seemingly-mundane outcome that is quite a bit less likely. Nine strikeouts in the final three innings of a game would really be something. Zero strikeouts in the final third of a contest would be nothing, both literally and figuratively. Even in the age of the “strikeout scourge” failing to get punch outs rarely makes headlines. However, last year the no-K innings were rarer than three-K frames for the Yankees relief hydra.
| Player | One-Inning No-Strikeout games | Percentage of total games |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Miller | 5 | 8.3% |
| Dellin Betances | 5 | 6.8% |
| Aroldis Chapman | 6 | 9.2% |
| Total | 16 | 8.0% |
When fans watch the Yankees bullpen this season, they will do so expecting something extraordinary to happen, and that’s absolutely fair given the personnel involved. However, this trio is so special they should also be watching carefully for the banal.
In this extraordinary case, it could be even more rare.
Lead photo: Anthony Grupposo / USA Today Sports